Narrow Passageways Research Articles

La Casa Virreinal como arquetipo. Análisis comparativo de cuatro viviendas en Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala

This article presents a contribution to the study of the architectural composition of Modest Residential Heritage built in the Historic Center of San Salvador in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The objective is to identify patterns in the spatial organization of these dwellings, particularly the "casa patio" typology, which exhibits continuities from the colonial (virreinal) period to the republican era. Due to the lack of residential buildings from the virreinal period in San Salvador, four cases of virreinal houses from Antigua Guatemala, the capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala to which the province of San Salvador belonged, are analyzed. The methodology employed includes the comparison of the selected cases using Classification Schemes to graphically interpret three architectural elements: the patio with its corridors, the axis of access through the zaguanes (gateways), and the interior-exterior relationship. The results show that the patios play a fundamental role in the organization of spaces, and the architectural composition emphasizes order through the use of corridors. Additionally, the path from the entrance through the zaguanes to the chiflones (narrow passageways) connecting to other patios follows an angled route to avoid direct visibility between them. The comparative study reveals that the spatial organization of the four analyzed examples exhibits continuities in the distribution of spaces, potentially contributing to defining a typology of "Hispanic-American virreinal house" that is regionalized according to site-specific determinants. ILIA: Investigaciones Latinoamericanas en Ingeniería y Arquitectura, No. 01, 2024: 67-74.

PPSwarm: Multi-UAV Path Planning Based on Hybrid PSO in Complex Scenarios

Evolutionary algorithms exhibit flexibility and global search advantages in multi-UAV path planning, effectively addressing complex constraints. However, when there are numerous obstacles in the environment, especially narrow passageways, the algorithm often struggles to quickly find a viable path. Additionally, collaborative constraints among multiple UAVs complicate the search space, making algorithm convergence challenging. To address these issues, we propose a novel hybrid particle swarm optimization algorithm called PPSwarm. This approach initially employs the RRT* algorithm to generate an initial path, rapidly identifying a feasible solution in complex environments. Subsequently, we adopt a priority planning method to assign priorities to UAVs, simplifying collaboration among them. Furthermore, by introducing a path randomization strategy, we enhance the diversity of the particle swarm, thereby avoiding local optimum solutions. The experimental results show that, in comparison to algorithms such as DE, PSO, ABC, GWO, and SPSO, the PPSwarm algorithm demonstrates significant advantages in terms of path quality, convergence speed, and runtime when addressing path planning issues for 40 UAVs across four different scenarios. In larger-scale experiments involving 500 UAVs, the proposed algorithm also exhibits excellent processing capability and scalability.

Hiding complexes in fortified sites of the Bar Kokhba war

Hiding complexes are among the well-attested archaeological remains of Roman-period Jewish settlement sites. Found chiefly in the Judean Lowlands and Lower Galilee, they consist of rock-cut subterranean facilities that are linked by an intricate network of narrow passageways and burrows, creating a sort of labyrinth beneath the settlement. In this article I propose a phenomenon that has not previously been addressed in the literature: namely, the association of hiding complexes with fortified settlements and forts from the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt. The most conspicuous feature of these systems is that they permit movement underground from a fortified built-up area to the outskirts of the settlement or the open land beyond it. On the basis of an examination of the features, territorial extent and geographical distribution of the most prominent examples, and a comparison with the tunnels at Herodium, I propose that they were an important and planned defensive element of Bar Kokhba's military strategy.

Making Landscapes, Building Communities. A Journey along the Kopais Corridor in Boiotia

Summary This article explores how the narrow passageway along the southern shores of Lake Kopais evolved into a sacred landscape that provided space for the building of a political community among the inhabitants of ‘two Boiotias’. The Kopais corridor was a highway for the movement of people and ideas since the Late Bronze Age. Its high frequency of cult sites offered ample opportunity for the nourishing of sentiments of togetherness. The first section of this article surveys the key determinants in the relations between the two major cities on either end of the corridor, Orchomenos and Thebes, prior to the creation of their first federal union. This lays the groundwork for the second step of the analysis, when the article examines the local environment of the Kopais corridor. Revisiting its cult sites, the discussion delves into the experience of local place – each one distinct and with its own sacred aura, but lined up along a path and linked with other places. In conclusion, the findings are put in the wider context of storied environments and sacred landscapes in the Archaic Age. It will be argued that the union of the Boiotians was subject to the dynamics of sacred landscape making in the Kopais corridor, a dynamic that allowed the ethnos to relate to a space critical to its origins.

Reasoning about crowd evacuations as emergent phenomena when using participatory computational models

How do students apply systems thinking to make sense of a computational model of crowd evacuation? We developed a participatory simulation in which users play the role of evacuees that move through a narrow passageway. This simulation demonstrates that when exceeding a certain speed, moving through narrow bottlenecks, is more likely to create clogs, leading to a slower passing rate. The participatory simulation was introduced in a lesson about school evacuation in a group of 9th graders. Their explanations of crowd evacuation, were compared to a similar group of 9th graders who learned the same ideas in a lecture without using the simulation. We found that using the simulation did not improve students’ system thinking about crowd evacuation compared to lecture-based instruction. About 80% of the students in both groups suggested partial/incomplete explanations of the inverse relationship between the desire to move faster as individuals and the opposite consequence of slower evacuation. Interviews with students revealed that some of them perceived the simulation scenario to be different from the organized and coordinated evacuation drills that they partook. Others, were engrossed in their own experiences as evacuees, that obscured their ability to relate the motion of individual evacuees and the overall evacuation rate of the crowd. In a second study, we examined whether prior learning of a different emergent process (spread of a disease) with a computational model, can prepare students for learning the counterintuitive phenomenon of crowd evacuation. We found that introducing a participatory simulation of the spread of a disease in a different group of 9th graders, increased their appreciation of the evacuation simulation as a learning tool, and consequently–their explanations. We conclude that computational models have the potential to enhance systems thinking, but their affordances depend on prior preparation for learning with other complex systems models.

Overcoming Exploration: Deep Reinforcement Learning for Continuous Control in Cluttered Environments From Temporal Logic Specifications

Model-free continuous control for robot navigation tasks using Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) that relies on noisy policies for exploration is sensitive to the density of rewards. In practice, robots are usually deployed in cluttered environments, containing many obstacles and narrow passageways. Designing dense effective rewards is challenging, resulting in exploration issues during training. Such a problem becomes even more serious when tasks are described using temporal logic specifications. This work presents a deep policy gradient algorithm for controlling a robot with unknown dynamics operating in a cluttered environment when the task is specified as a Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) formula. To overcome the environmental challenge of exploration during training, we propose a novel path planning-guided reward scheme by integrating sampling-based methods to effectively complete goal-reaching missions. To facilitate LTL satisfaction, our approach decomposes the LTL mission into sub-goal-reaching tasks that are solved in a distributed manner. Our framework is shown to significantly improve performance (effectiveness, efficiency) and exploration of robots tasked with complex missions in large-scale cluttered environments.

Caspian Elegies

Caspian Elegies Layli Shirani (bio) for Ali First Elegy When we were kids, we found Paradise in the dewy Hyrcanian forests and moody, sentient waters of the Caspian seashore. You handsome, a bit serious, dimple-chinned with a drooping lower lip; me scrawny, messy, eager to keep up. Every family has its own unique geometry. Where I was inconsistent, changeful, rebellious, you were steady, committed, argumentative: a Euclidean vector conferring, upholding, the symmetry and harmony that bound us together. Host to endless hectares of shalizar, our Caspian region has always favored the Mehr varietal: the rice that stretches and gives more of itself after a good salty soaking. Our people prize quality over yield. The cultivation of rice is a delicate process involving rice buds—shaltooks—gestating safe and warm and away from any inclemency for a whole year before being plunged in saltwater and gently stirred, allowing the heavier, heartier seeds to announce themselves by sinking to the bottom. The shalikars rinse the more viable seeds, place them in semi-full gunny sacks and submerge them in fresh water, allowing the seeds to swell in size before laying them out to sprout. You would think the surviving seeds are now ready to begin their separate journeys, but they are not. [End Page 69] Picture our homeland as it is often described: in the shape of a cat. Now see its scruff and there we are, in the middle . . . in Vanoosh village, Nowshahr County, Mazandaran Province, on the wrong side of the highway from the seashore, in a modest villa surrounded, saturated, by damp, green shalizar. A cradle. Think: nobody worried about us crossing the busy Nowshahr-Mahmudabad Road during our daily treks to and from the darya, or how often we young shaltooks ventured into those turbulent waters, unaccompanied and unseen. How free we were. I had my big brother next to me. I had you. Iranian shalikars practice the seedling method of cultivation. Every shalizar has a khazaneh—an enclosed area either adjacent to or on the land itself—where the seeds are released into water at least three centimeters deep. Often the khazaneh is covered with a layer of plastic at night to protect the babes from aberrant drops in temperature or other calamities. Here they will germinate, grow tentative roots, begin their adolescence. Once, on our way back to the villa for lunch, you were running ahead of me through a narrow passageway, and the next thing I knew your face was swarmed by attacking bees. I don’t remember which side of the highway we were on, but we sprinted, eyes half-shut and screaming until we reached Mom, who was nearby at the villa if not on the land itself. In the khazaneh, when the plants become teenagers, the shalikars withhold water for three weeks and then flood them, tricking the young seedlings into believing they are ready to separate from the earth. They emerge, quivering, their fledgling roots intact for nearby transplantation. And they are yet a long way from becoming the grains presently soaking in a bowl on my kitchen counter here in California—continents away from their birthplace—resting beneath a watery western salt cap. Suppose I were to tell you that I have never stopped trying to return to that place where danger and separation were neither thoughts nor words, and safety and comfort were always nearby if not on the land itself ? Where the best part of eating balaal by the roadside in Vanoosh was not so much the grilled corn but the process of receiving it by the cob’s end with a bit of newspaper wrapped around and dunking it into a communal saltwater [End Page 70] bucket that was blackened . . . with bits of char, ash, and rootlike filaments. Suppose I were to tell you that my body rejected its transplant, that the distance was too far, the soil too alien. That my roots are still flooded, still seeking familiar earth.1 Second Elegy In one of my earliest memories, we are in Princeton, our leafy anchor to this country. I am scared of the neighbor’s dog who barks whenever we walk past. You grip my...

Multilayered membrane spacer: does it enhance solution mixing?

AbstractThe present review systematically investigates and illustrates the effect of multilayered membrane spacers on the features of fluid dynamics that influence all performance metrics. Multilayer spacers are frequently composed of three sets of filaments (i.e., top, middle, and bottom layers), which has the benefit of increasing mass transfer and decreasing membrane surface fouling when compared to ordinary monolayer (e.g., extruded spacer) and two‐layer spacers. The review found that the multilayer spacer's middle layer disperses primary flow to the thin side spacers placed near the membrane's surfaces. The thin side spacers will then form narrow passageways to keep the solution in situ for as long as mass transfer is achievable. The employment of thin spacers close to the membranes at satisfactory operational conditions (e.g., adequate flow velocity) results in swirling flows and incorporation of transverse and longitudinal eddies near to the membranes, reducing the boundary layer's width and making the associated ion concentration domain at the membranes much more consistent. The concept and implementation of multilayer geometry in feed channels appears to be promising, since a multilayered spacer can function at a lower maximum flow velocity than normal two‐layer spacers, saving operational energy while minimizing concentration gradients at the membrane surfaces. Furthermore, the multilayer structure's durability and mechanical strength may help to reduce membrane deformation and maintain long processes. Future studies might look at significantly reducing spacer thickness for industrial uses. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).

The acoustic transfer impedance of baffled injectors in three-dimensional combustion chambers

Baffled injectors are typical passive control devices to restrain combustion instabilities in liquid rocket engines. However, there still has been no appropriate model to describe the acoustic characteristics of baffled injectors. In this work, the baffled injector gap is modeled as a narrow passageway with a cross-sectional surface area gradient. An acoustic transfer impedance model is derived from the momentum conservation equation to relate the acoustic disturbances between the inlet and outlet of injector gaps. Validation is conducted by comparing the first tangential mode frequency of a three-dimensional combustion chamber without flame from the detailed structures model and that using the proposed acoustic transfer impedance model. The proposed impedance model is embedded in a numerical simulation model of a three-dimensional combustion chamber considering the unsteady heat release; the effects of baffled injectors geometry parameters on the first tangential acoustic mode are then investigated. Results show that the presence of baffled injectors not only damps the acoustic energy due to the viscothermal effect, but also can longitudinalise the original transverse mode.

Detection of passageways in natural foliage using biomimetic sonar

The ability of certain bat species to navigate in dense vegetation based on trains of short biosonar echoes could provide for an alternative parsimonious approach to obtaining the sensory information that is needed to achieve autonomy in complex natural environments. Although bat biosonar has much lower data rates and spatial (angular) resolution than commonly used human-made sensing systems such as LiDAR or stereo cameras, bat species that live in dense habitats have the ability to reliably detect narrow passageways in foliage. To study the sensory information that the animals may have available to accomplish this, we have used a biomimetic sonar system that was combined with a camera to record echoes and synchronized images from 10 different field sites that featured narrow passageways in foliage. The synchronized camera and sonar data allowed us to create a large data set (130 000 samples) of labeled echoes using a teacher–student approach that used class labels derived from the images to provide training data for echo-based classifiers. The performance achieved in detecting passageways based on the field data closely matched previous results obtained for gaps in an artificial foliage setup in the laboratory. With a deep feature extraction neural network (VGG16) a foliage-versus-passageway classification accuracy of 96.64% was obtained. A transparent artificial intelligence approach (class-activation mapping) indicated that the classifier network relied heavily on the initial rising flank of the echoes. This finding could be exploited with a neuromorphic echo representation that consisted of times where the echo envelope crossed a certain amplitude threshold in a given frequency channel. Whereas a single amplitude threshold was sufficient for this in the previous laboratory study, multiple thresholds were needed to achieve an accuracy of 92.23%. These findings indicate that despite many sources of variability that shape clutter echoes from natural environments, these signals contain sufficient sensory information to enable the detection of passageways in foliage.

Dondog (excerpt)

Dondog (excerpt)* Antoine Volodine (bio) Translated by Ben Streeter (bio) Part One: Children I. Black Corridor The tin can rolled across the grimy tiles of the hallway. Dondog barely grazed it, with his left foot, I think, yet there it rolled. The thick cover of darkness made it impossible to know if it was a can of beer or of Coke. Empty, light, the tin cylinder followed its noisy course then stopped, no doubt because it had come up against heavier, grimier trash. The floor slanted. Like everywhere in the City, the masons who added blocks of housing on top of existing ones had little regard for horizontality. They were of the mind that the cement would hold and, what's more, the walls would sink and undo any effort at getting it right. The hallway therefore had the look of a sordid and shabbily dug trench. It reeked of fish guts and frying oil, grungy humidity; it smelled of the hovel of beggars or Untermenschen; it stank of rat piss, of decomposition, the rotten old age of nearly all things. Thirty steps further, beyond a half-open gate, a stairwell led to a higher floor: the fifth. Maybe the fifth. After going down so many narrow passageways that forced him back a few meters lower, or oblique half-stories that led from one building to another, Dondog had lost his bearings. He could no longer say where in the City he was, at what distance from its outskirts, at what elevation, and he was advancing, at that moment, in an alley located around a fourth floor. Beyond the chain link fence's quadrangles, the stairs reflected a low mawkish light. There had to be a fluorescent tube a little further that was trying to shine a light on the space. When the metal's sound had exhausted all of its echoes, Dondog took two more careful steps then stood still. [End Page 97] Not knowing, first of all, what to focus on, he imagined the can had stumbled upon a chicken sternum or some leftover rice, and some cockroaches were examining this strange object, on the alert, their antennas all agog, then they stopped moving too. All was relatively calm. After the roaches, four names came to Dondog's mind. Jessie Loo. Tonny Bronx. Gulmuz Korsakov. Eliane Hotchkiss. He murmured them very softly, as his memory needed his mouth to function. Then he pushed out a sigh. In the depths of the structure, we heard the motors of the pumps pulling toward the reservoirs on the roof the water that came from the well. The vibration was constant. On top of that were grafted the yammering from a soap opera on TV, and sounds and voices from a few radios. The residents of the City did not belong to a singular ethnicity, evidently. Dondog listened closely, his ear accustomed for decades to the internationalist lingua franca of the camps, and he recognized the mix of idioms that only fully developed behind the barbed wire, and which he had had his entire life to learn. And yet, he could not identify with certainty the slightest phrase. Everything was deformed, as happens in the depths of a bad dream, or when we try to understand, for example, belabored Mongolian spoken by an American, or mutilated Teochow spoken by a German, or even worse. One floor below, someone hammering two nails into a plank then coming back to tranquility. Sweat poured abundantly under Dondog's clothing. He had not changed since leaving the camp and his construction vest was too hot. He felt drops running down his cheeks, down his thighs, around his eyes, under his arms. In the foul-smelling obscurity, he remained still. It was as if he no longer wanted to move until he died. The names had surged on his tongue, but he did not pronounce them. Eliane Hotchkiss. For her, for that one, there needed to be verification, he thought. A partly crushed cockroach struggled then under Dondog's heel, the right heel, it seems to me. It struggled half-heartedly. No one noticed and, in the end, like us, it began losing interest in its future...

Mechatronic Anti-Collision System for Electric Wheelchairs Based on 2D LiDAR Laser Scan.

Electric wheelchairs make it easier for disabled and elderly people to live, move, interact, and participate in society. Moving a wheelchair in open spaces is relatively easy, but in closed and small spaces, maneuvering is difficult. Solutions to such problems for people with disabilities are applicable to a relatively small group of recipients and are mostly custom-made solutions, whose considerable cost is a significant barrier to accessibility. New technologies can provide an opportunity to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities in this aspect. Using selected elements of complex automation and control systems, cost-effective solutions can be created that facilitate the functioning of people with disabilities. This paper presents an analysis of hazards and problems when maneuvering a wheelchair in narrow passageways, as well as the authors’ solution to this problem, and the concept and assumptions of a mechatronic anti-collision system based on 2D LiDAR laser scanners. This solution is composed of a proprietary 2D rotating scanner mechanism that ensures the acquisition of 3D images of the environment around the wheelchair. Preliminary tests of this solution yielded promising results. Further research will include miniaturization of the device.

Mountain frog species losing out to climate change around the Sichuan Basin

Amphibians are particularly vulnerable to climate changes that are expected to cause habitat fragmentation and loss and, ultimately, local extirpations. However, little is known about how the interaction between climate change and fragmentation may impede the ability of amphibians to adapt to climate change. Here, we used the iconic mountain frog Quasipaa boulengeri as an indicator species to extrapolate climate-driven shifts in its habitat availability and connectivity in central and southern China according to the minimum and maximum representative concentration pathways. The models projected an average habitat loss of 36%–71% and the in situ and ex situ climate-change refugia to be 29%–64% and 5%–18% of the present-day suitable habitats, respectively. An increase in habitat fragmentation was reflected in a 51% decrease in core patch size, a 9% increase in the mean least-cost path (LCP) length, and a 19% increase in the cost-weighted distance. These climate-driven shifts varied spatially around the Sichuan Basin, with those in the southeast of the Basin being the most pronounced habitat and connectivity losses and those along the Basin being relatively optimistic. The effectiveness of refugia may only be maintained through a narrow passageway along the southern Sichuan Basin because of the presence of LCPs over time. Our results emphasize the need to understand how climate change and connectivity will jointly affect the distribution of mountain amphibians and to accordingly adopt conservation strategies. Further, our findings highlight the importance of identifying and preserving climate-change refugia and habitat connectivity for species persistence and conservation planning.

Virtual Surfaces and Attitude Aware Planning and Behaviours for Negative Obstacle Navigation

This letter presents an autonomous navigation system for ground robots traversing aggressive unstructured terrain through a cohesive arrangement of mapping, deliberative planning and reactive behaviour modules. All systems are aware of terrain slope, visibility and vehicle orientation, enabling robots to recognize, plan and react around unobserved areas and overcome negative obstacles, slopes, steps, overhangs and narrow passageways. This is one of pioneer works to explicitly and simultaneously couple mapping, planning and reactive components in dealing with negative obstacles. The system was deployed on three heterogeneous ground robots for the DARPA Subterranean Challenge, and we present results in Urban and Cave environments, along with simulated scenarios, that demonstrate this approach.

Particle dynamics and transport enhancement in a confined channel with position-dependent diffusivity

This work focuses on the dynamics of particles in a confined geometry with position-dependent diffusivity, where the confinement is modelled by a periodic channel consisting of unit cells connected by narrow passage ways. We consider three functional forms for the diffusivity, corresponding to the scenarios of a constant (D0), as well as a low (Dm) and a high (Dd) mobility diffusion in cell centre of the longitudinally symmetric cells. Due to the interaction among the diffusivity, channel shape and external force, the system exhibits complex and interesting phenomena. By calculating the probability density function, mean velocity and mean first exit time with the Itô calculus form, we find that in the absence of external forces the diffusivity Dd will redistribute particles near the channel wall, while the diffusivity Dm will trap them near the cell centre. The superposition of external forces will break their static distributions. Besides, our results demonstrate that for the diffusivity Dd, a high dependence on the x coordinate (parallel with the central channel line) will improve the mean velocity of the particles. In contrast, for the diffusivity Dm, a weak dependence on the x coordinate will dramatically accelerate the moving speed. In addition, it shows that a large external force can weaken the influences of different diffusivities; inversely, for a small external force, the types of diffusivity affect significantly the particle dynamics. In practice, one can apply these results to achieve a prominent enhancement of the particle transport in two- or three-dimensional channels by modulating the local tracer diffusivity via an engineered gel of varying porosity or by adding a cold tube to cool down the diffusivity along the central line, which may be a relevant effect in engineering applications. Effects of different stochastic calculi in the evaluation of the underlying multiplicative stochastic equation for different physical scenarios are discussed.

METHOD OF USING POLYSPAST SYSTEM FOR CONDUCTING EMERGENCY AND RESCUE OPERATIONS IN A CONFINED SPACE (UNDERGROUND COLLECTORS, WELLS)

Introduction. According to the information of the State Labor Office of Ukraine, over the 12 months of 2018, 59 persons were injured at the enterprises of the water supply and sewerage system of Ukraine, including 2 persons were fatally injured. Within 5 months of 2019, 16 people were injured, with 4 deaths.
 Water and sewerage managements of Ukraine is one of the most important systems of life support of settlements. Much of the water supply and sewerage network is in a state of disrepair and needs to be replaced and repaired. With the onset of summer, the intensity of repair, excavation and cleaning works, work in wells, ditches, trenches, closed spaces increases, which in turn increases the likelihood of accidents occurring during their execution.
 Appointment. Limited (closed) spaces include tanks (tanks, tanks, boilers), wells, chimneys, narrow passageways in tunnels and cellars, and the like.
 EAOUW - emergency and other urgent work.
 Feature of EAOUW in confined spaces is:
 - the possibility of accumulation of gaseous hazardous chemicals in high concentrations, explosive and poisonous gases, as a con- the difficulty of accessing rescuers to victims;
 - limited amount of time for EAOUW;
 - probability of landslides (landslides) during actions in earth wells;
 - a sharp rise in groundwater and displacement of the well rings;
 - threat of explosion or fire.
 Methods. As the equipment of the climbing and special rescue equipment of the units of the operational and rescue service of civil protection is different, we will consider the use of the system of polyspast during rescue operations in a limited space (underground collectors, wells).
 Results. Three experiments were conducted on the use of the polyspast system during emergency rescue and other emergency work in a confined space (underground collectors, wells).
 Conclusion.Having analyzed the above-mentioned facts of accidents at work in underground collectors, wells and standard of accessory, costs and terms of operation of fire-rescue, technological and garage equipment, tools, individual armament and equipment, repair and operational materials of subdivisions of Ukraine mounting method of polyspast system with different equipment. Particular attention should be paid to the third experience, namely the mounting of a polyspast system using six fire carbines and a rope.

Car Speed Distribution in Front of a Stop-Line of Urban Regulated Intersection

Problem. Car speed is a very important indicator of the traffic organization level in conditions of the formed street-road network. The car speed in a particular place and at a specific time is definitely random, and therefore should be described by the distribution law. The generally well-known normal distribution of the car speed in free traffic conditions is transformed into another distribution when these conditions complicate. The strictest conditions are those where the car is forced to stop completely and stand for some time in anticipation of permission for further movement. One such case is regulated intersections, and therefore the establishment of a car speed distribution in these conditions is an urgent task for which a new concept of a car speed should be introduced. Goal. The goal is testing the hypothesis about the possibility of describing the car speed fluctuations in front of the stop-line of a regulated intersection by an exponential distribution law. Methodology. Development of the method for the car speed measuring in front of the stop-line of the city regulated intersection on the basis of understanding the speed as the average speed of a car passing distance through the road cross-section. Results. The results of observing the actual speed at a regulated intersection lead to the conclusion that a regulated intersection can significantly complicate the traffic conditions in comparison with the narrow passageway and this is reflected in the decrease of the average speed of vehicles and the growth of its standard deviation, that brings the gamma-distribution close to the exponential form. Originality. A new method of a car speed estimating was proposed, on the basis of which the method was developed and the hypothesis was tested regarding the indicator distribution of the car speed in front of the stop-line of the regulated intersection. Practical value. The obtained result allows to increase accuracy of the car speed prediction in analytical and simulation models of transport network functioning.

Choosing rock art locations: Geological parameters and social behaviours. The example of Cussac Cave (Dordogne, France)

Cussac Cave, discovered in 2000 in the Dordogne department of France, is one of the major decorated and sepulchral sites of the Gravettian period of the Upper Palaeolithic. It contains spectacular engravings, human remains—some of which were deposited in bear hibernation nests—and other well-preserved artefacts and traces of human and animal activity, such as human and cave bear footprints. The exceptional preservation of this cave is due to its recent discovery (followed by an extensive preservation program) and the apparent absence of human frequentation since the Gravettian period. As part of the multidisciplinary research program developed since 2008 (PCR Cussac, dir. J. Jaubert), this study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the factors—natural and/or cultural—that influenced the Gravettian people in their selection and general distribution of rock art panels in the cave. We investigate the nature of the rock support, location, surroundings, accessibility, and visibility of 31 panels. For this purpose, we developed an innovative methodology combining the data recorded in a dedicated database and on topographic documents with data processing using complex statistics (Factor Analysis for Mixed Data - FAMD). Through this work, we identified three groups of panels that reveal three ways of using the cave, two of which appear homogenous. Group 1 is characterized by small panels located in narrow passageways of the Palaeolithic path in the Downstream Branch of the cave. These panels share a strong potential for visual relationships whereas it is impossible for more than four people to see a given panel at the same time. In contrast, Group 3, also mainly located in the Downstream Branch, is composed of large panels with numerous graphic entities. These panels are always located in wide corridors and distant from the natural path, and their field of visibility is thus large enough to accommodate a small group of individuals. They also share visual relationships with other panels. Finally, Group 2 contains fewer intrinsic criteria, though all the panels are situated between the beginning of the Downstream Branch and the Upstream Branch, and they are visually isolated from each other. This study yields evidence of a strong interaction between geological and cultural factors in the selection of the rock art panels in Cussac Cave. The Gravettian people that frequented Cussac Cave linked their cultural goals to what the cave had to offer in terms of geology, geomorphology and available space. They adapted to—and even optimized—both the opportunities and constraints of the cave, thus demonstrating a strong interaction between geological and cultural parameters.

Assessment and Zoning of Bojnord City in Terms of Seismic Hazards

The unstable tectonic conditions contribute to the occurrence of major seismic activities in Iran each year so that this country is known as a geographic area vulnerable to incidents. This article is aimed at evaluating and zoning the city of Bojnord in terms of seismic hazard and vulnerability. This is an applied research with a descriptive–analytical method. A library-documentary method along with comparison of topographic maps with present condition was adopted for data collection. The spatial and non-spatial (descriptive) data were assessed using ArcGIS and Expert Choices models and software, hierarchical analysis, weighting, and then they were analyzed by determining the effect of layers involved in the zoning. The research area, Bojnord city, was divided and zoned into 15 districts according to five indices of microlithic, area, accessibility, population and enclosure. In order to determine the final indicator for the vulnerability of the districts, seven indicators of archaism, materials, number of floors, passages width, enclosure, microlithic and land use were adopted. Indices were weighed by AHP; and after computing the weight of each layer in the GIS using the Spatial Analysis and the Weighted Overlay function, the weights obtained from the ANP model were assigned to each layer, and the layers were overlaid to plot the vulnerability map of the city. The results suggested that districts 3, 11 and 12 were most vulnerable to seismic hazard due to decrepit and worn-out texture. A total of 27% of the urban areas were subject to severe and relatively severe seismic hazard. Also, 53.3% of the 15 districts of Bojnord were in poor and relatively poor conditions with respect to indices under study. In the end, strategies for alleviating vulnerability and improving urban districts are proposed. Buildings with high level of enclosure, low-quality materials and high building density have amplified vulnerability compared to other areas. Compact texture, insufficient open spaces and worn-out tissues have deteriorated their vulnerability. Further, distance of urban areas from the relief centers, narrow passageways and thus the possibility of blockage and high enclosure can prolong the travel time and slow down rescue operations.

Preliminary results of the Getahovit-2 Cave excavations in 2018

Except for the newly discovered archaeological sites that can be determined as classical models (keys), additional, deeper, information and examination in the study of the Chalcolithic period of Armenia can be found in the caves, rock shelters and open-air camps. In that list, Getahovit-2 cave has its own niche, in terms of the environmental context and its being very well stratified and dated due to systematic excavations. Moreover, the cave is the perfect example of a place that was used by pastoralist groups as a sheep and goat keeping place during the Chalcolithic period in the region and the first, where the phenomenon has been fixed and studies as well. The cave is located in the valley (N 40°54’38.5’’, E 045°05’59.7’’) formed by the Khachaghbyur River (the tributary of Aghstev River) at an elevation of c. 968 m.a.s.l., between the modern villages of Yenokavan and Getahovit (Tavush region). It consists of two halls: the first, opening to the south, covering an area of 64 m2, and the second accessed through a narrow passageway. The excavations, conducted by the Armenian-French joint project, began there in 2011 and continued until 2017. The results yielded cultural deposits nearly 2 m deep, with Medieval horizons, overlaying the Chalcolithic period. Finally, the Upper Palaeolithic horizon has been fixed by deep test sounding. With its radiocarbon dates, the Chalcolithic period attested from Getahovit-2 cave is placed very well in the middle sequence of the chronological chart based on radiometric dating. Additionally, one result showed very early Chalcolithic period presence (5289-4995 cal BC), which is extremely interesting. This contribution presents the preliminary results of the 2018 excavations undertaken by the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, NAS RA, with the financial support of the Ijevan Wine-Brandy Factory. Although only the preliminary results will be presented, some important particularities will be stressed in terms of the typological and technological differences of the pottery in comparison with the previous collections found in the cave. The discussion will concern the general situation and description of the newly excavated Chalcolithic layers after they were covered by mud streams mixed with small stones flowing into the hall. Some questions of stratigraphy will be presented which could be correlated with previous seasons’ excavations.